


Limerence // L.S.

by hazzasgolden



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Coucou, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Harry Styles - Freeform, Harry Styles Loves Louis Tomlinson, Harrys a twat, Help, Hospitals, How Do I Tag, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Is this a kissing book?, Louis Tomlinson - Freeform, Louis Tomlinson Loves Harry Styles, M/M, Niall Horan & Louis Tomlinson Friendship, OT5, OT9 - Freeform, Poor Niall, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Surgeon Harry Styles, Surgeon Louis Tomlinson, Surgeons, This Is STUPID, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, What Was I Thinking?, larry - Freeform, larry stylinson - Freeform, one direction - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:42:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29539101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazzasgolden/pseuds/hazzasgolden
Summary: Dr. Louis Tomlinson really didn't want to like Edith Hospital. (Who the fuck names a hospital that?) He's a respectable general surgeon whose only goal is to save as many lives as he can.  When Lottie drags him across the upstate to the buzzing city of Edinburgh, he expects all to go as planned. But then, who's to be prepared when all hell breaks lose? And by hell, of course, he means the mysterious yet dashing surgeon, Dr. Harry Styles.
Relationships: Ashton Irwin/Gemma Styles, Gigi Hadid/Zayn Malik, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Maya Henry/Liam Payne, Niall Horan/Lottie Tomlinson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey :) Welcome to the fic! This is a hospital based Larry Stylinson fic, and it's definitely going to be a bit of a slow burn. Please be patient, my thoughts are still kind of all over the place, but I have some really great plans for it and hope you'll stick around :) THIS IS CURRENTLY AN ONGOING FIC.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis settles in.

Dr. Louis William Tomlinson is a good general surgeon. It isn't a dream, it wasn't hope, it's just straight fact. He's  _ good _ . One of the best in the country. People fly from all over to see him, to operate with him, to study under him. But he's missing something. It's cliche to the max, but no matter how hard he tries, no matter how many risky surgeries he pulls off, something's missing from his life. Something isn't there.

And so Louis tried to change it. At first he started small, trying to change his diet, how much he ate. Then he forced himself to wake at 5 AM daily, pushing himself to run 3 or 4 miles a day. And once that didn't work, he figured it must be his job. He decided that maybe he was overworking himself (a terribly hard thing to think about). Reluctantly, he cut back his hours in the OR, delegated most of his work to his fellows, and attempted to relax. Surprise: it didn't work. He's  _ Louis Tomlinson _ . Surgery was everything. It kept him running.

So then he figured it had to be his life as a whole. Louis even contemplated changing specialties, but quickly realized he wouldn't be cut out for anything else. Trauma? No thank you. Neuro? Not his cup of tea. Cardio? Nope. Peds? Kids...he'd rather not.

Louis preferred his little bit of everything, thank you very much. The balance was necessary to keep him going. 

So at last, Louis took drastic measures. Nothing in his life made sense anymore, and the sense of impending doom left him flighty and irritable. Which led him to Edinburgh. 

The first thing that Louis notices is the weather. Everywhere is  _ windy _ . REALLY fucking windy. And Louis decides he hates it. Why can't everything just be like Doncaster? Everything was better in Doncaster. 

But he isn't only here for himself, so it's time to suck it up. Lottie is depending on him, and her new internship isn't anything to mess around with. So it's time for Louis to be a responsible older brother and support her. Even if it means that everything is blowing over and Louis feels like he's dying. 

"Louis, are you gonna stay in bed all day then?" comes a bored voice from the door. 

"Lottie, leave me in peace, please." Louis groans. "Let me have at least one day before work tomorrow." 

"I still can't believe we're gonna work together." she responds excitedly, plopping down on his bed. "We've really grown up, haven't we, Lou?" 

"You can thank your father's money for that." Louis responds deftly, displeased that his sister won't leave him. 

"He's your father too, you know." Lottie frowns. 

"You should've seen him last time. Fucking nightmare, I'm serious." Louis mutters. "The only good thing that piece of shit ever did for this family was paying for med school." 

"Right." Lottie says brightly, disregarding Louis' remark. "I'll get us some tea and then you can help me go over my notes. I'll be best in my class and nothing less, thank you.  _ Especially  _ since I'm Dr. Louis Tomlinson's sister." 

"A lot to live up to, eh?" Louis smiles lightly. 

"Get your head out of your ass." Lottie replies. 

"Then get out of my room." Louis responds. "Dr. Louis Tomlinson would like to sleep a bit longer." 

"You're a right twat, you know that?" Lottie sighs, before reluctantly leaving the room. 

Louis nods sleepily, lying his head back down onto his pillow and allowing himself to drift back to sleep. 

* 

Lottie permitted an hour's worth of sleep before she yanked Louis out of bed. Literally. 

"How are you so strong?" Louis mumbles pitifully, blinking dumbly on the floor. 

"Should I take a picture?" Lottie laughs. 

"Lottie!" Louis complains, scrambling to get off the floor. 

"I'll send it to the twins, yeah?" she replies. "It'll make them laugh." 

"Well, alright." Louis relents. 

"You're an old sap." Lottie smiles. 

"Only for the girls." Louis shakes his head. 

"You think they're doing alright with Fizzy?" Lottie wonders. 

"They're doing fine. She's a good sister, they're in good hands." Louis replies, waving his hand. 

"How is this gonna work?" Lottie asks. "You know, the hospital stuff." 

"Well, you'll start as an intern, eventually become a resident. And then you'll pick a specialty, start a fellowship, and well. Go on from there, I guess. Eventually you'll be like me." Louis explains, feigning patience. 

Lottie had an affinity for asking questions she already knew the answers to, but Louis didn't mind it for the most part. It made him feel better about his life, and remind him that maybe he did succeed somewhere by raising the girls. Lottie becoming a surgeon was huge, it made him feel like he at least did something right. 

"Right. So you want me to be like you." Lottie repeated, voice laced with sarcasm. "Old, sad, and lonely. I'll pass, thanks." 

"Lottie!" Louis gasps. "You're lying." 

"I dunno, am I?" Lottie replies lightly. "Anyways, there's an intern mixer tonight and I'm required to go." 

"Which means?" Louis asks.

"That you have to go with me." Lottie finishes. 

"You're funny." Louis replies dryly. "No." 

"See, this is what I mean! You hardly do anything but work, eat and sleep." Lottie complains. 

"Hey, I do stuff." Louis snaps. 

"Like?" Lottie presses. 

"I paint...kinda." Louis sighs. 

"Kinda. Mhm, okay." Lottie repeats, making a disgusted face.

"I can!" Louis says indignantly. 

"Let me know the next time you paint a  _ live subject _ . I'll wait." Lottie laughs. 

"Why do I have to go? Don't you have friends?" Louis complains, ignoring her. 

"Because you're the chief of general surgery! Don't you think people are gonna want to know who they're working with!?" Lottie pushes. 

"But they'll know tomorrow anyways." Louis whines. 

"Lou, I love you, but c'mon. You're coming." Lottie sighs. "Please. Do it for me. I want things to go well here." 

"I hate you, you know that?" Louis sighs, rooting through his closet for a clean shirt.

"Excellent." Lottie replies, clapping her hands together. "And no scrubs, it's a little get-together at the hospital. Work starts tomorrow, this is for  _ friends _ ." 

Ew. Friends. What a funny word. Louis decides that he isn't very sure he wants friends here. He doesn't even like the place. Friends don't sound like a good idea at all. 


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis makes friends. (kind of)

Louis was right. This was NOT a good idea. 

The first thing Louis does once he steps foot in the hospital is turn to complain to Lottie. Except she isn’t there. 

“Lottie-” He starts, looking around for her. 

He spots her animatedly jumping into a conversation with a blonde haired boy and his dark eyed mate, both of whom look a bit overwhelmed by her energy. 

“Fucking traitor.” Louis mutters, stalking to a distant corner of the room. 

Peace. At last. 

Louis scans over the room with judgemental eyes, trying to make out who’s who. Several wide-eyed interns stroll across the floor, busy sucking up to attendings and residents. 

Ah, yes. Interns. 

They’re useful, Louis thought languidly, but they get in the way so much more. 

He stays this way for a while, against the wall staring. Louis has to stifle a laugh as he watches an intern run out of the room looking sick because of a photo of a procedure. He misses the days when he had a weak stomach. Everything was so different back then. 

But then again, Louis’ intern days were a whole other degree of disaster. He’d rather not reminisce on that. 

“What are you doing hiding away in the corner? This is your day to gain favoritism, bring in some money to your name. Get out there and talk to people.” 

A doctor’s discovered his little hideaway and it looks like Louis’s been caught. 

“I’m alright, thanks.” Louis replies drily. 

“I’m serious, you’re gonna wanna get some favoritism. Take my advice. It’s more OR time.” He continues on, disregarding Louis’s response. 

Louis watches him through narrow eyes, reflecting that he vaguely looks like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. He almost sounds a bit australian. 

“Not an issue.” Louis smiles, deciding to humor him. “I’ll get it regardless.” 

“You’re an intern?” Shaggy says, raising an eyebrow. “Scut on the bottom of my shoe? It...doesn’t work like that?” 

“Oh, but it does.” Louis says wickedly. 

“You’ve got another thing coming.” Shaggy sighs, shaking his head. “Things don’t work that way here.” 

“They’ll work just fine.” Louis replies. 

He reaches out and touches Shaggy’s coat. 

“Where did you get yours embroidered? I’m gonna need to get a new one.” Louis asks. 

He really should stop, he’s probably going to end up terrorizing this kid. But then again, he is mistaking him for an intern. So there’s that. 

“Interns don’t get coats until they make it past their first year…” Shaggy says questioningly. 

Louis pulls himself off the wall and holds out his hand to shake. He supposes he’ll save the kid the trauma. 

“Louis Tomlinson, chief of gen surgery.” 

“I-” Shaggy replies, eyes wide. 

“Lovely to meet you.” Louis says smugly. 

The doctor stares at Louis for a solid 30 seconds, mouth wide open. 

“Are you gonna tell me your name, doctor? Or just stand there.” Louis asks. “Either works, but the first is preferred.” 

Shaggy quickly closes his gaping jaw and straightens out his coat. 

“Right. Um, Dr. Ashton Irwin. Chief Resident.” he replies, red still painting his cheeks. 

“Irwin.” Louis nods. “Right, I’ll try and remember that.”

“Did you just get here, then?” Irwin asks.

“Last night with my sister.” Louis answers. “She’s right over there.” 

He points to Lottie who is now smiling and laughing with whom Louis assumes to be an attending. 

Always the charmer, Lottie is. 

“Oh, she’s very nice. Introduced herself right off the bat to everyone. She’ll do good here.” Irwin replies, watching her chatter with the other doctor. 

“Great to know, thanks.” Louis says laconically. 

Of course she’s gonna do well, it’s Louis’ sister. He brought her up to look out for herself. Not that Louis won’t be around to help out. 

Louis manages to chase Irwin off after a couple minutes of boring conversation and goes back to his corner of silence. 

Which was a mistake. A huge fucking mistake. 

The mistake came with a name.

“Dr. Niall Horan, nice to meet ya!” 

What a mistake. Louis was now caught and didn’t know what to do. This is really not going well. Louis doesn’t know how to get away from him. The man talks and talks. And then he talks some more. 

“And…” Niall pauses, taking a breath. “What did you say your name was?” 

“Louis Tomlinson.” Louis replies primly, holding out his hand. 

“Aye!” Niall barks happily. “Tommo, you’re the doctor everyone’s been talking about!” 

“Could you not-” Louis starts, mildly annoyed. 

“You’ll get on fine, here. We’ve got the best doctors around.” Niall says, ignoring him as he chatters on. 

Does he even notice that Louis is here? Maybe he could just slide away. 

“Well, we’ve got to introduce you to everyone, then!” Niall commands cheerfully, slinging his arm around Louis’ shoulders. 

This damn Irish doctor. 

Niall practically interrogates him about his journey into the state, asking about every little thing and roaring with laughter as he found out that Louis accidentally overslept and had to rush to the airport with a disgruntled Lottie as they almost missed their flight. (Which was NOT something to laugh about, thanks). 

Louis learns to his horror that Niall lives on the same apartment floor as them. If he could barely stand talking to him for 15 minutes, how is the whole year going to go?

So Louis smiles through painful introductions, one after the other, mentally trying to mark down who he would want in his OR and whatnot. 

After a particularly painful introduction between him and a resident named Clifford, Louis decides it’s time for a break. 

“Niall, I’m gonna go get a drink or something.” Louis mutters, ducking out from under him. 

“Ah, c’mon mate, Clifford’s just a bit shy. Quite good once you get to know him. Very gifted, extremely.” Niall says. 

“I’ll be back!” Louis replies gleefully, ducking out from under his arm and disappearing into the crowd.

Louis wants to go back to his little corner of peace. Leave all the talking to Lottie, it’s what she's good at. On the way, he decides that he’ll keep his promise to Niall and grab a drink. He plucks a flute of champagne off the table and sips carefully, immediately wrinkling his nose. 

Right. Louis forgot how fucking gross champagne was. So much for that. 

“You managed to get away. Impressive.” 

Louis whirls around mid-step. A woman doctor is staring at him with a smirk, arms crossed and eyebrows raised. Louis can’t help but notice with a start that she’s American, accent roughly cutting through all of the other voices in the room. 

“Sorry, what?” Louis asks, mildly uncomfortable. 

He _really_ doesn’t want to reject someone his first night in, especially because of the fact that it comes with the whole “I’m gay, actually” talk. He’d rather not have his sexuality released to the whole hospital. Not yet. 

“Dr. Horan.” she replies, laughing at his obvious confusion. “He’s a handful, that one. Brilliant, but a handful.” 

Despite his promise to himself, Louis can’t help but smile. “Right, um. He talks a lot. Does that ever stop?” 

“Get used to it, babe. It’s his absolute favorite thing to do.” she responds with an amused smile. “He’s good company, though. Really great with patients, makes them smile.” 

“Oh, that’s good, I guess.” Louis breathes. 

“Where are my manners?” the woman says suddenly, coloring a bit. “Maya Henry, chief of cardio.” 

“I’m Louis, Louis Tomlinson. Going to be the chief of general.” Louis replies. “But you already knew that, I assume.” 

“Yes, you’ll learn that this hospital is a fat load of gossips.” Maya says, waving her hand. “Everyone knows everything. So keep your lips sealed and your secrets close to your heart. Words travel fast here.” 

“Great, thanks to know.” Louis says, trailing off. 

Louis wants his corner. And these hospital people _really_ don’t want him to have it. Fucking inconviences. 

He stands awkwardly with her for a couple seconds, not sure what to say. 

“Sit with me?” Maya invites. 

“Sure.” Louis replies, giving up on ever reaching salvation. 

They sit down at a table and Maya watches him silently from behind her glass of champagne. The awkwardness doesn’t seem to bother her at all, but it leaves Louis squirming in his seat. 

“You don’t wanna be here, do you?” she finally says with a laugh. 

“Not exactly.” Louis admits slowly. 

“You’ll warm up to us eventually.” Maya says. 

Louis notes how the whole hospital seems to belong to each other, referring to themselves as a whole. The community seems close-knit, a bit secure if you will, but overall everyone seems warm and welcoming. 

So maybe it won’t be that bad. What’s the worst that can happen? 

“Louis?” 

Louis snaps back into reality and manages a convincing smile.

“Sorry, what was that?” 

Louis forces himself to be somewhat social, and actually manages to carry an interesting conversation with Maya. Though he hates to admit it, he actually enjoys her company a bit, tuning out the rest of the room and cracking stupid jokes to make her laugh. 

He learns a bit about her, and how long she’s been here. She gives him bits of advice about the hospital (“never go to the third floor on-call room, everyone’s always hooking up in there and it’s disturbing, honestly”) and she manages to make him laugh as well with a couple of snarky remarks directed towards some of the interns. 

Louis is just asking her about her opinion on who the best residents to allow on his service would be when he's interrupted quite quickly. 

“Hello, darling, and who would this be?” 

A rather bear-like man wraps his arm around Maya’s shoulders protectively, eyeing Louis up and down. 

“Why do you always call me that, it’s weird.” Maya sniffs, removing herself from his arm. “This is Dr. Tomlinson, he’s starting here tomorrow.” 

Louis waves half heartedly, warily watching as Maya attempts conversation with both of them, ignoring the way that the other doctor’s basically baring his teeth. 

“Liam Payne. Head of Trauma.” 

Liam holds out his hand and tightly shakes it. Louis has to imagine a bloody trauma to keep himself from laughing, observing how obviously in love Liam was with Maya. Maya doesn’t seem bothered so Louis figures that she has a bit of an idea but hasn’t acted on anything. 

Ah yes, drama with the attendings. Always a fun time. 

“Lovely to meet you.” Louis manages to reply. 

Liam sits down at the table firmly and Maya stays silent, finding her glass of champagne suddenly very interesting. 

“Right.” Louis coughs. “Well, Maya it was nice talking, I’ll see you around.” 

He fidgets a bit with his shirt (“wear this blue one, it brings out your eyes” Lottie said) and decides to just make a break for it. 

Maya waves goodbye and Liam stiffly nods at him. 

Making enemies on the first fucking day, excellent. Just what Louis needs. 

He slides to the back of the room and is just contemplating if it would be a good idea to sneak out or not when someone clinks their spoon to their glass and calls attention. 

“Hello, hello. Welcome to Edith hospital.” 

A dark eyed man stands at the front of the room, suit ironed neatly and a beautiful smile on his face. If Louis didn’t know he was straight, he would have definitely tried to go for him. 

“I am Dr. Zayn Malik, chief of surgery here. Interns, these next few years are going to be the most important in your whole life. You’re building your life here, your skills, your relationships, and preparing yourself to become some of the greatest surgeons in the world. It’s not going to come easy, believe me when I say this. It’s going to be difficult, it’s going to be exhausting, and it’s going to be grueling. But it’s also going to be rewarding. So damn rewarding. Because at the end of the day, there’s nothing better than seeing a family smile when they hear you saved their person’s life. So buckle up. It’s going to be a hell of an experience.” 

The room erupts into applause and Louis claps along with them, impressed. Zayn truly has a way with words. 

“Allow me to bring forward the heads of our departments here.” Zayn requests, beckoning. 

Fucking fuck. Idiot.

Louis dies inwardly as he walks up, Maya and Liam waiting with another woman and Niall. 

“Dr. Maya Henry, chief of cardio.” Zayn introduces. 

Maya gives a small wave, looking semi bored. 

“Dr. Liam Payne, chief of trauma.” 

Liam gives a wry smile and edges closer to Maya. Louis has to suppress his eye roll. 

“Dr. Niall Horan, chief of peds.” 

Niall waves enthusiastically, smiling widely. Louis can’t help but wonder who was more of a kid, Niall’s patients or the man himself. 

“Dr. Gigi Hadid, chief of neurosurgery.” 

A beautiful woman smiles brightly as Zayn wraps his arm around her waist before turning to Louis. 

“And here we have our newcomer, Dr. Louis Tomlinson, chief of general.” 

Louis smiles awkwardly and nods. 

“And that’ll do it.” Zayn says, turning to the audience. “Welcome to Edith, I hope this hospital becomes a wonderful home to all of you.” 

They all clap once again and then Irwin stands and calls for attention. 

“I’m Dr. Irwin, your chief resident. If you need anything, answer to me.” 

They all nods and then people begin to mill around again. 

“Tomlinson.” Zayn calls. 

“Chief?” 

Zayn smiles cheerfully, eyes crinkling. “Welcome. I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

“Thank you, see you then.” Louis replies. 

“My fiance.” Zayn introduces, gesturing to Hadid.

“Nice to meet you, Dr. Hadid.” Louis says. 

“Oh, just Gigi is alright, thank you.” she hums. 

“Right. Well, good night.” Louis says, fidgeting. 

He really needs to be more social, this is a disaster. 

They sweep off to go woo the others and Louis makes a run for it. 

He’s halfway through the hospital foyer when he sees Niall smoking near the entrance. He turns around but Niall’s already spotted him. 

“Tommo! Over here!” 

Fuck. There’s truly no way out here. 

“Hello, Niall.” Louis sighs, walking over. 

“Did you hear Zayn’s speech?” Niall asks, blowing smoke in his face. “Pretty good, innit?” 

Louis nods silently. 

“You’re so uptight, mate. What do you say we get a drink?” Niall says, stamping out his cigarette. 

“Those are really bad for you, you know.” Louis replies, avoiding the question. 

Niall rolls his eyes. “I’m aware, I practically live with a cardiologist. Maya never lets up about it.” 

“Hm. Well she’s right.” Louis murmurs. 

“C’mon mate, just a couple drinks is all.” Niall says, pulling him to the parking lot. 

How touchy feely. Being friends with people is weird. 

“You know what, fine.” Louis replies, going out on a limb. 

It’s always easier to pass time when you’re drunk. The hospital is a bore, anyways. 

“Excellent!” Niall says, clapping. “I’ll call a cab.” 

They head across the city to Niall’s favorite bar. The man truly never stops talking, asking about all sorts of things and then answering most of them himself. Louis doesn’t mind it, he’s always preferred to listen rather than talk, so it balances out. He warms up to Niall eventually, learning that he too is obsessed with soccer (or football, as he calls it). It helps that Louis has chosen a very strong cocktail to drink while he learns about Niall’s life story.

He’s just about to ask for a refill when Niall asks him a question that almost makes him vomit up his insides from laughing so hard. 

“Mate, I don’t wanna say it, but I do hope you know there’s a man who's been checking out your ass for the past hour.” 

Seeing Nialls face as Louis accepts the information so easily makes him laugh even more. 

“‘Course I know.” Louis finally replies, tears streaming. 

“Oh.” Niall squeaks, looking a bit embarrassed.

“It’s alright, Niall. I’m gay.” Louis says, still giggling. 

So maybe getting drunk wasn’t the _best_ idea. To be fair, they were gonna find out eventually. 

“Well, good on you and all that.” Niall says easily, reverting back to his old self.

“Don’t worry about it.” Louis laughs, waving his hand. “Everyones always surprised or whatever.” 

“Well, with eyes like those it’s surprising you aren’t taken.” Niall complains. “How was I supposed to know?” 

“I know, I know, I have a nice ass.” Louis preens. 

He really does, it’s probably one of his favorite things about him. It’s not exactly something that he tells people, but it’s definitely true. 

“Well,” Niall gestures towards the guy with his cup. “Aren’t you gonna go get him?” 

“Nah.” Louis says, shaking his head. “Not my type.” 

“You have a type?” 

“I think so, yeah.” Louis replies. “Well, kind of, you know? To be honest I’m kind of just waiting for a person to come around and then I’ll just know.” 

“Good luck.” Niall snorts. 

“Thanks.” Louis says. “I’ll need it.” 

“Sure, sure.” Niall rolls his eyes. “You’ll be fine.” 

“How can you be so sure, Mr. I’veOnlyKnownYouForAnHour?”

The man had way too much faith in Louis. 

“Okay, then, I don’t know, tell me about yourself.” Niall replies lazily, downing another beer. 

“What’s there to say.” Louis grimaces. 

“I dunno mate, tell me about your family or something.” 

Family. That’s going for the good stuff right away. 

“Um, well.” Louis says questioningly. 

“I don’t need your life secrets, just tell me a little about them.” Niall says, noticing his discomfort. 

Or maybe he was just drunk and getting bored. Either one. 

“Well, there’s Lottie, who you met.” Louis starts. “And then I’ve got another sister, Fizzy who’s at home with the girls. Well- the twins, I should say. They’re quite young so she’s looking after them. Fizzy practically forced me and Lottie out here.” 

“Hm. Sounds nice.” Niall grunts. 

“Yeah, they’re alright.” Louis hums. 

“Parents?” Niall asks, calling for another beer. 

“Well my mum, she’s passed.” Louis looks down. “She was great. My best friend.” 

“I’m sorry man.” Niall says somberly. 

Even though he could tell Niall was stupid drunk, Louis appreciated the sentiment. Why was he telling Niall this anyways? 

“Dad?” Niall asks. 

“Um.” Louis says, gripping the table. 

He’d rather not answer this one. 

“Not present, okay.” Niall hums, passing over the subject. “Well, seems like a pretty nice family.” 

Oh, if only he knew. If only. 

“‘S alright.” Louis says airly, trying to change the subject. “And you?” 

He and Niall sit and chat for a couple more hours, and it’s only when Lottie sends Louis a very graphic text that he decides it’s time to go. 

“Niall, let’s go home. I’ll call a cab.” he says, pulling on Nialls arm. 

“You gotta hear my joke, Louis.” 

“Niall, let’s go.” Louis insist, but can’t help smiling.

“Why did the banana go to the doctor?” Niall asks, laughing already.

“Um..” Louis says, attempting to get him out of his chair. 

“Because it wasn’t peeling well!” Niall finishes, cackling loudly. 

‘Ha ha.” Louis responds dryly. “Let’s go, you big brute.” 

Niall obediently follows Louis lead and they head out of the bar to the curb to find a taxi. Thankfully, Louis spots one and yells as loud as he can. 

“Oi! Over here!” 

Niall joins in gladly and they hail the cab quickly. 

Just as they’re about to get in, a tall man wrapped tightly in a coat cuts them off and climbs into the cab. 

“Hey man, what the hell?” Louis complains. 

The man yells at the cab to leave and Louis flips off the car as it speeds away. 

“Fucking dick.” 

They manage to tumble into Louis’ apartment 20 minutes later to find an absolutely fuming Lottie. 

“Louis! You have _work_ tomorrow!” she shrieks. 

“Lay off it, Lottie. Lemme get him to his apartment, give me a second.” Louis sighs. 

At least they lived near each other. 

“Hey, she’s pretty.” Niall murmurs drunkenly. 

“That’s my sister, hands off.” Louis complains, lugging him into his room. 

After setting Niall to bed and locking the door securely behind him, Louis practically runs back to his own apartment. 

“Louis William Tomlinson!” Lottie whines. 

“Lots, I love you, but please let me sleep.” Louis groans. “You have rounds tomorrow, get to bed.”

“Don’t think I’m forgetting about this!” she says, but Louis swears he sees her smile before leaving the room. 

Despite not wanting any, Louis has made a couple friends. (Well, sort of). So yes, maybe Edinburgh is off to an okay start.


End file.
